Passive multi- and hyper-spectral imaging techniques are generally employed to detect and identify various objects for government and commercial applications. These applications may include detection of camouflaged objects, homemade explosives, weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and illegally produced drugs. These applications may also include monitoring industrial pollutants, industrial activity and untapped natural resources. However, passive, multi and hyper spectral imaging have certain disadvantages. For example, they offer poor night-time imaging capability, reduced accuracy in view of the inability to control the illumination source, and inability to operate in some wavelength bands because only narrow atmospheric transmission windows exist in those bands.
Conventional laser technologies, such as Optical Parametric Oscillators (OPOs), may address some of the wide tuning requirements of multi-wavelength lasers. However, these lasers suffer from drawbacks including but not limited to poor robustness for field use, large size, poor efficiency, and slow tuning speed. Separately, while plural, separate lasers could be used to create a multi-wavelength laser system, their size and power consumption result in significant drawbacks as additional wavelengths are added.
What is desired is an active, widely and rapidly tunable, multi-wavelength laser remote sensing (MWLRS) apparatus that provides enhanced functionality in comparison to passive multi- and hyper-spectral imaging systems and overcomes the drawbacks of conventional systems described above.
What is also desired is a MWLRS apparatus offering 2 or 3-D imagery with an enhanced ability to detect, identify, and discriminate a variety of materials over a predetermined number of wavelengths.
What is also desired is an apparatus that can use Raman amplification to controllably transfer power from an initial pump wavelength to one of a plurality of different possible output wavelengths.